The New Digital Demand: Is Your Company Ready?

Digital transformation has moved far beyond streamlining business operations. Digital has played a critical role in enhancing the consumer experience and its value has only increased over the last year when the pandemic changed the way so many businesses connect to their customers. 

Mary Meeker’s most recent annual Internet Trends report highlighted that 28% of adults are online “almost constantly.” That number was an 8% increase from previous years, and it has grown since then. In fact, 70% of people said they increased their time on mobile devices during COVID-19, while 47% spent more time on a laptop. 

Without question, the pandemic accelerated what was already a foregone conclusion: digital experiences are no longer a value-add, they are paramount to success. Still, there are many companies who are coasting with only the very basic of digital capabilities, and those cracks are starting to show. How can you ensure your business is well prepared for the digital needs of today and tomorrow?

First, fix what is broken

Your digital experience is only as good as the technology driving it. Thanks to digital giants like Amazon or Uber, customers have grown accustomed to a certain level of personalized, easy-to-use and intuitive experience through their devices. 

Yet there is a growing disconnect between how well a company thinks it is delivering on digital and what the customer experiences. In fact, a recent survey revealed that 60% of companies think they have great mobile experiences, but only 20% of customers agreed. If you find that number surprising, just think about your own personal, digital experiences and consider how many times you have felt frustrated or unsatisfied. 

Despite technological advancements, getting digital right isn’t easy. For a long time, it seemed only the tech giants or those companies who baked digital into their model from the very beginning would ever be able to deliver a truly seamless service. The good news, however, is that times are changing.

Digital platforms have grown sophisticated and developers have access now to so many tools designed to improve the digital experience. A greater focus on omnichannel capabilities have helped companies deliver a more cohesive, seamless experience. Even better, testing tools continue to improve, making it easier to ensure not just that your app or website work, but how well they work – across every customer, at any point in time, no matter the location or the channel. 

It is critical that your team takes a hard look at the current state of your digital offering and finds ways to root out weaknesses and improve each aspect of the experience for your customer. As all companies grow in capabilities and experience, ensuring your digital experience is flawless will be a crucial step to survival.

Next, really know your customer

While improving technology is necessary, it falls flat if there isn’t a strong understanding of the customer your technology is trying to reach. In today’s expectation of immediate gratification, one-third of customers will walk away from a brand, even a beloved one, over just one bad experience. That statistic may be sobering, but the flip side is optimistic – 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a great experience (PWC). 

Clearly, the opportunity to build loyalty is baked into every digital encounter. Customers have more choice than ever before, and the businesses who win loyalty are the ones who understand how to personalize digital interactions because they know and understand their customer. The beauty of digital is that it delivers all kinds of valuable data that can help you to better know your customers at the individual level, making it easier to meet their needs.

And good news! It doesn’t require a bunch of new, sophisticated or complex technology. Take time to evaluate what data-collecting resources you already use. Chances are you are using Google Analytics or another analytics tool as part of your existing technology stack. Those tools can provide even basic insights into the age of your customers, where they are coming from, how long they stay and what parts of your app or website they most frequently use. If you use chatbots, or if you record customer interactions in any way, you have another outstanding source of data. Most companies already collect the data they need to be successful. The bigger issue is finding a way to effectively evaluate that data, making it actionable and useful.

Which brings me to my final point – no matter how much technology you have at your disposal, or how sophisticated your data capabilities are, without a plan of action to continually address customer experience you can’t succeed.

Remember: a failure to plan is a plan to fail

Up to this point, you may be nodding your head in agreement that you understand how important digital experience is and telling yourself that your company has all of these initiatives in place. You’re not alone. A recent report by Dimensions Data showed that 9 out of 10 organizations recognize the power of customer experience as a competitive differentiator. 

Despite that understanding, however, few actually have the organizational structure in place to succeed. In fact, 20% of organizations have no digital experience strategy and over half of all companies say that ownership and accountability for customer experience is unclear. For many companies, customer experience is siloed within business units with very little collaboration or shared insights across the organization. 

Who owns customer experience within your organization and how do you measure success?

Understanding how to fix what is broken across your own digital channels, or how best to know and to meet your customers’ needs, requires taking a deeper look into the processes and strategic thinking that got you to where you are today. Digital Experience has to be a key driver of your business experience in 2021 and beyond, and it starts with assigning ownership, establishing short and long term goals, and building in effective measurements of success. 

StrategyBlocks is the right tool to gain the insight you need to better evaluate the efficacy of your customers’ digital journeys. Contact us today and let us show you how to better visualize your strengths, understand your challenges, and prepare to win over your customers with digital experiences that both delight and deliver.